1983 honda nighthawk 550

[teamnaptime]

the angle on the bend for the stock pipes was not correct for the look i was going for. i wanted the pipes to run along the edge of the frame. so, i cut down the headers before the bends, and tacked in the new pipes.

[teamnaptime]

and then i did the second side.

still working on exaclty how i want to mount them to the frame at the rear. i'm leaning towards welding on a straight bracket that will sit over the pipes, and then have them attached to it with a bolt. or may just go with the hose clamp route like they are now.. maybe stainless zip ties. not real sure yet. i'll have to sit and stare at it for a while then it'll coem to me.

i usually change my mind on ideas about 10 times as i sit and stare. come up with a good idea. then come up with lots of reasons why it wont be practical, or will fail lolol. :mad1:










i forgot to take a final picture.. i will tongiht.. but i cut the pipes off, right where the frame tilts up in the rear to go up to the axle plate. so they are actually about 3-4' shorter than what they are in these pictures.

i originally wanted to do slash cuts in them. but once looking at it, i went for the double barreled shotgun look instead.

now i just have to get them wrapped, and baffles installed. (maybe)

it sounded significantly lower than the other side, but it was hard to tell since the other side is so loud. i'll know tonight after i finsh the left side if i'll need the baffles.. by money is betting that i will need them.

[teamnaptime]

not really diggin this snow these last few days !!!

oh well, i still shoveled my way out to the garage... thank goodness i've got a gas furnace out there..

my replacement throttle control showed up in the mail... scored it on ebay for 10 bucks or so. i got that installed right away.



then i moved on to the driveshaft.

scored another on ebay for 10 bucks.

set them up on the bike, figured where i needed to make my cuts.

here they are both at stock length



i cut them both 2.5" past center, and then joined up the two longer pieces, which gave me the 5" stretch i needed.



gave them each a little notch, so they would interlock with each other. then put them on the bike o test for length fitment.






i was going to weld the two pieces together. but i was out of wire.. so i decided to use zip ties instead...



then i realized that the zip ties may not hold up to the torque from this super powerful racing engine..

so i used something stronger..

electrical tape.



but after posting the pics... i realized.. electrical tape isnt going to work.... there's no wires in the driveshaft !!!

so im headed out today to get something more powerful and permanant..... DUCT TAPE !!!! :banana:


but seriously.... im goign to be sleeveing the entire shaft in thick wall DOM tubing with beads around each end, and plug welds down the shafts. i'm just waiting for the tubing to show up in the mail.

[teamnaptime]

got my new grips in the mail.



finished up the pipes on the left side







still need to finish up the final welding and grinding.

waiting for the baffles to show up. and still waiting for the tubing for the driveshaft. white exhaust wrap showed up, so i'll probably knock that out and finish the exhaust on monday/tuesday next week.

oh, here's a video of the bike running with both sides of the exhaust done... you can hear why i want the baffles !!

also, the bike soudns really loud and fast at first, and towards the end, it gets softer and more lumbering... thats cuz its cold, so the choke is on in the first half of the vid..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PHK2yna0xE

[teamnaptime]

hey everyone.. sorry its been a while since my last update.

i went on vacation down to the dominican republic for my birthday.. it was supposed to be an 11 day trip, but i might have sorta kinda extended the trip.. just a FEW days.... to 30 total !!

i was looking at a few different restaurants down there that im thinking of trying to get my hands into for when i move down there.

anyway since i was gone so long, i had shut down things here at home that werent needed at the moment.. ie: phone, cable, internet, etc...

got back home on march 25th. but been busy with trying to get everything reorganized ... cable finally got turned back on today.... so here i am !!!

rest assured though, since i got home on the 25th.. ive been like a machine out there in the garage... so this will be a rather big update.

the nice weather had me motivated to get crackin out there so i could ride this thing...

and now that im all settled back in.. and ready to ride the bike.. im leaving again to go back to the DR in 20 days... but this next trip is only 5 days long...

[teamnaptime]

so just before i left for my trip, i was working on the exhaust. when i got home, i had baffles waiting for me.. so i got those installed..









these arent high dollar baffles. i grabbed them from jcwhitney, iirc, i snagged them for like 6 bucks each... i havent really determined if im going to have to add mufflers or not. but right now i am happy with the sound.. just now sure if they are goign to be a problem for the carbs..

[teamnaptime]

my forward controsl showed up from tcbros while i was away..



and my tubign showed up for extending my driveshaft..





so, i cut that down to size, so i could hand it over to my buddy at the college to have the inside milled out to match the driveshaft diameter, and then have him tig weld the shafts to the tubing.






and, i picked up a trailer fender that was just the right size, for six bucks

[teamnaptime]

im probably going to run the fender more like this, so it covers a little more of the tire. i think it just kinda of goes a little better with the tank and seat.






then i started working on fabbing up the mounts for the forward controls. the exhaust presented a bit of a problem, because thre are four of them, there wasn't really a convenient spot for the forwards bracket. so i had to get creative.

[teamnaptime]

because of the way the brackets were mounted and shaped, i had to give them some support with a crossbrace between them to stiffen it up.

[teamnaptime]

well, i got my freshly drilled and milled shaft back from my buddy the welding proffessor. he wanted me to check it all over and approve it, before he welded it up.





they milled out the inside, and also tapered the ends to match the taper on the shaft, so it would drop in and seat nicely.